Auto Racing

CALGARY, AB - The 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV all-electric hatchback is gaining traction among Canadian consumers and fleet operators. Twenty deliveries in February brought total sales to 53 units since i-MiEV's debut in mid-December. The City of Calgary and ENMAX Energy are among Canada's earliest adopters of i-MiEV's advanced technology.

ENMAX Energy operates two i-MiEV vehicles on a long-term test program, an activity that inspired the city of Calgary to purchase an i-MiEV last December. The city's purchase became the first i-MiEV sale in Alberta - a landmark event for Mitsubishi and its Calgary-area dealerships.

The city of Calgary and ENMAX Energy join a growing list of fleet customers, including British Columbia's Saanich Police Department, Saskatchewan's SaskPower and Hydro-Québec - all early adopters of the zero tail-pipe emission i-MiEV.

Throughout the winter, both fleets and consumers have taken delivery of i-MiEVs from 30 i-MiEV-certified Mitsubishi dealerships throughout Canada.

"Mitsubishi Motors was among the first out-of-the-gate with an all-electric, no-tailpipe car in Canada. As such, our dealerships are reporting growing interest and acceptance for i-MiEV. The i-MiEV represents a key part of Mitsubishi Motors' plan to maintain its leadership in eco-friendly technologies, focused on state-of-the-art electric vehicle technology found in the i-MiEV," said Shin Fujioka, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada.

"Consider that in addition to advanced technology, early adopters are impressed with the value proposition as i-MiEV is Canada's most affordable all-electric car - with purchase incentives available in several provinces," he added.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a five-door, 4-passenger, subcompact hatchback with a range of up to 155 km, is on display at the 2012 Calgary International Auto and Truck Show at the BMO Centre, Stampede Grounds. In the forefront of advanced, electric-vehicle technology, i-MiEV has already earned kudos in Canada and beyond:

• The Mitsubishi i-MiEV was named the most fuel-efficient subcompact car sold in Canada by Natural Resources Canada in 2012.

• The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the "greenest car in the United States", a designation from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

• The Mitsubishi i-MiEV was nominated for a World Green Car Award, one of the world's most prestigious, credible and significant programs of its kind, administered by a non-profit association.

TORONTO (Reuters) -- The head of the union that represents Canadian employees of the Detroit 3 automakers said on Wednesday his union is under "incredible pressure" from them heading into bargaining for new labor contracts this summer.

Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, said that even though his union prefers set hourly wage increases and remains opposed to linking pay to performance, as has been done in the United States, it cannot ignore the fact that times have changed.

In last year's bargaining with General Motors Co., Chrysler Group, and Ford Motor Co. in the United States, the UAW agreed to performance pay and bonuses rather than across-the-board salary increases.

Lewenza said in an interview his union is under pressure to do the same.

"I think it's too early to judge the determination of the company," he said. "We have managed to resist what we call gimmick pay. But the UAW did something that we cannot ignore, considering where we are at today."

Agreeing to similar contracts in Canada would mark a major shift for the CAW, which broke away from the UAW in 1985, in part because it would not accept profit-sharing as the UAW had done.

"I'm guarded at this particular time, because the times are different," Lewenza said. "I don't want to, I want us to stick to the traditional way of compensating workers, with no gimmicks attached."

The stronger Canadian dollar has also put Canadian unions under particular pressure as it increases the cost of doing business in Canada for international companies.

GENEVA (AP) — Ford launched its new B-Max family car at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday, amid concerns that faltering demand in Europe may require mass market automakers to consider further plant closures.

The subcompact B-Max, to be sold only in Europe, is recognizable for its missing pillar between the front and rear doors and is aimed squarely at a demographic squeezed by government austerity measures.

It features Ford's EcoBoost fuel-saving technology, another nod to cost-conscious consumers looking to counter rising gas prices.

Ford's chief executive Alan Mulally insisted the company still considers Europe an important market, despite losing money there last year.

"Europe, even now with the slowdown, we're at nearly 14 million units," he told The Associated Press at a pre-show event late Monday. By comparison, Ford's estimate for North America is only slightly higher, with 14.5 million units.

But Mulally said that to compete, automakers need to aggressively meet consumer demand. At the moment there is a strong appetite for small, sleek and sporty vehicles in Europe, he said. "Remember when smaller cars used to be cheap and cheerful? Now the consumers want the finest quality, the finest fuel efficiency, safety and design."

Meanwhile, Ford Europe's CEO told reporters Tuesday that European policymakers should stop getting in the way of plant closures as the industry seeks to balance supply with shrinking demand.

"I believe policymakers can stop making statements that they understand capacity should be taken out — but not in my country," Odell said.

He also criticized the European free trade agreement with Korea as being lopsided — resulting in seven times more cars arriving from South Korea than heading there from Europe. He hopes the same thing won't happen with an Indian accord being negotiated.

Idle production lines in Europe are cutting profits as automakers face a contracting market. Odell said Ford plants are operating just above 90 percent thanks to earlier plant closures, and emphasized that Ford Europe has been profitable for six of the last eight years despite a difficult economic environment.

By comparison, capacity utilization in 2011 in North America on the same two-shift basis was 106 percent.

More recently, Ford Europe has dropped a Belgian plant to four days a week and reducing the temporary work force at plants in Germany and Britain.

Ford made difficult decisions on plants during the 2008 and 2009 crisis — something that didn't happen Europe-wide "for a number of national reasons," Ford CFO Lewis Booth told The Associated Press.

Ford will focus on cost containment to return to profitability until demand is restored, but he declined to speculate on possible measures. Booth said Ford Europe could lose $500 to $600 million dollars this year, after recording losses of $190 million in the last quarter of 2011.

"The European consumer is nervous about spending money because he doesn't know what the future holds," Booth said.

General Motors Co. (GM), missing sales goals for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, plans to halt production of the sedan for five weeks beginning later this month rather than discount the high-technology cars.

GM will stop making Volts at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant from March 19 until April 23, Chris Lee, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail March 2. The factory had ramped up to full-speed production Feb. 6 after the New Year’s shutdown.

While sales of the Volt in February more than tripled from a year earlier to 1,023, the rate is below what’s needed to meet Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson’s goal of 45,000 deliveries in the U.S. this year. GM missed its target of 10,000 Volt sales last year, finishing 2011 with 7,671 deliveries.

“This move is to keep proper inventory levels,” Lee said in the e-mail.

GM executives have said publicity surrounding a two- month federal investigation into the safety of the Volt following a fire publicly revealed in November had hurt the car’s sales. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in January that the Volt poses no more fire risk than other cars.

“Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag,” Akerson said during a Congressional hearing on Volt in January. “And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become.”